I got interested in both Walsh and the James Gang after reading an
interview with Pete Townshend in which he claimed that Walsh was the
greatest guitar player alive, and talked about the James Gang
supporting the Who on tour. Strong words, so when I found an
album I picked it up. And lo and behold, this stuff is good!
So, believe it or not, the James Gang were hot stuff in the late 60s
and early 70s. Hailing from Cleveland (of all places) they had
it made in the local scene by 1968, when a number of personnel
changing resulted in the dropping of the original guitarist and
keyboardist and the addition of Joe Walsh. The result was a
power trio, with Walsh fronting, Jim Fox (the band's founder) on
drums and Tom Kriss on bass. Granted, Walsh can sing like crap
and frequently does - but that is why we have studios and multiple
takes. He wa also a fairly decent keyboard player, nothing
special. Jim Fox had the potential to rock the house which he
did on their first album Yer' Album and their live recording,
but was overshadowed by Walsh almost entirely. Their music
turned from more Invasion-styled work to the West Coast country,
laid-back stuff fairly quickly. (And no, I can't add any more
adjectives to the previous sentence.) Despite releasing three
singles from their first album (none of which made it), the group had
some success with their albums and "Funk #49" the single
from The James Gang Rides Again. Anyway, Walsh went solo
and I've reviewed a couple of his albums below. He then joined
the Eagles in 1976. So yeah, Walsh is a really good guitar
player, but watch out for that wavery blast of nasal whininess which
occasionally erupts.
As for the post-Walsh James Gang, it was a suspicious item.
Dominic Troiano and Roy Kenner turned out to be a rather decent
replacement for Walsh, but Troiano then left for the Guess Who (who
then split after a couple of years). His replacement was
Tommy Bolin, whose previous band Zephyr is famous enough for me to
have actually seen their albums, but not famous enough for me to have
an opinion. He also plays guitar on one of jazz drummer Billy
Cobham's albums. He quit for Deep
Purple, left them and then died at a young age. That's
about all I'm going to say on that.
Personnel:
Joe Walsh (guitar, keyboards, vocals) Jim Fox
(drums) Tom Kriss (bass)
Kriss left after Yer' Album and was replaced by Dale
Peters. Walsh quit 1971, replaced by Dominic Troiano
(guitar) and Roy Kenner (vocals). Troiano out,
Tommy Bolin in 1973. Band broke up in 1974 when Bolin
joined Deep Purple. Reformed with Fox, Peters,
Bubba Keith (guitar, vocals) and Richard Shack (guitar)
in 1975. Everything ended for good one year later.
Walsh's Backing Band for The Smoker You Drink The Player You
Get:
The
James Gang: Yer' Album (1969), **** I had heard
about this group in a contemporary interview with Pete Townshend, in
which he said they were one of his favorite bands. After buying
this album its easy to see why. Not only does Joe Walsh
contribute excellent guitar work in his debut, Jim Fox is a fantastic
drummer, and Tom Kriss a good bassist. The band mixed British
Invasion with American funk and the relaxed West Coast with fabulous
results. Although some tracks may sound a touch dated (the
backwards phasing guitar line on "Bluebird"), Walsh keeps
things moving with short snappy lines and avoiding long-winded
solos. He also contributed the majority of the songs, including
the sparkling acoustic "Collage". The covers are
mainly used for soloing by the band (Buffalo Springfield's
"Bluebird", the obscure Yardbirds' song "Lost
Woman"). The only down moment is Jerry Ragavoy's "Stop",
and, as the notes say, "the story of how we couldn't",
which gets old after a bit, with a deadening twelve minute running
time. A good buy not only for Walsh fans, but 60s music fans.
Produced by Bill Szymczyk.
The
James Gang: Rides Again (1970), *** Not as strong
as their debut for several reasons. Most noticeably, the band
has turned towards more of the soft-folk-rock that was big on the
west coast at the time. The result is that Walsh is playing
less big leads, Fox drums less, and new bassist Dale Peters does not
match his predecessor. So, musicianship is down, Walsh's
annoying voice is brought up in the mix, and he has yet to figure out
how to write songs in the new style. But the opening track,
"Funk #49" is the culmination of their previous style,
complete with jungle beats and snappy licks. Elsewhere, "Tend
My Garden" and "Garden Gate" are good songs written by
Walsh, with the latter being a solo piece. Otherwise, Rides
Again is repetitive ("Woman"), annoying ("There I
Go Again") or overblown ("Ashes the Rain and I").
Produced by Bill Szymczyk.
The
James Gang: Thirds (1971), **1/2 The band
decided to be more democratic, and Fox and Peters each contributed
two songs to Thirds. Wrong decision. Each of them may
have a decent voice, but Walsh was far ahead in the songwriting
arena. Fox's songs are OK, with the album closer "Live My
Life Again" repeating the title over and over again the last
three minutes or so, and "Things I Could Be" is the same
chord for over four minutes. Peters' songs are downright
bothersome; "Dreamin' in the Country" is helped a lot by
Walsh's steel guitar, but "White Man/Black Man" is
absolutely dreadful - a slow preachy gospel number that's over five
minutes long. "Sometimes I get the feelin' it's never
going to end," indeed. Walsh's two big numbers, the
crunchy "Walk Away" and the slower CSN&Y influenced
"Midnight Man", make up the album's highlights. A
slow jazzy blues workout ("Yadig?") with Fox on vibes and
Peters on upright is about as adventerous as it gets. So -
Walsh outplays and outwrites the other two quality wise.
Produced by the group and Szymczyk.
The
James Gang Live In Concert (1971), ***1/2 Recorded at
Carnegie Hall. The good news is that Walsh's voice holds
together well (always a deep concern) and he experiments with wah-wah
and interesting tape effects ("You're Gonna Need Me") and
even vocal percussion. The problems are the mixing, with
Walsh's voice and guitar eclipsing the drums on the first side
(although it may be my record) and Dale Peters' glaring incompetence
("Lost Woman"). But if you needed proof that Jim Fox
was one of the better drummers of the day, this is it, and Walsh's
performance confers "guitar hero" status on him. If
you can stand his voice, buy it. Produced by the group.
Joe Walsh: Barnstorm (1972)
His first solo
album.
The
James Gang: Straight Shooter (1972), ***1/2 I really
expected to dislike this album. After all, Joe Walsh pretty
much took the group's sound with him when he left. That is
unless you count suck as a musical style, which is what the non-Walsh
tunes on Thirds were. But strange enough, this album
does not suck, and a lot of the credit has to go to newcomers Dominic
Troiano and Roy Kenner. While Walsh needed enormous playing
prowess because his vocals were dubious, Troiano is more than happy
to turn over the center of attention to Kenner on vocals.
Because let's face it - Troiano isn't Walsh, and I think he was
comfortable with that, as am I. Troiano was surprisingly
versatile, and acquits himself well in his soloing. He is also
the only person to get partial credit on every track (Kenner comes
close) - showing how much the brain drain was on. The music?
Well, to kick things off Straight Shooter has a good amount of
light funk in keeping with the times, but the band sounds tighter
than on previous explorations. Most of it does not excite (the
opener "Madness" is the lone exception), but it does
provide a suitable outlet for Peters' robotic bass playing (the
band's tightness, again). While Walsh's signature numbers
tended to be filled with strong guitar work (in tone), Troiano has a
knack for slower, acoustic ballad tracks (the unexpectedly James
Taylor-like "Getting Old"). These also work well with
Roy Kenner, an emotive, white soul singer who sometimes borders on
oversinging, but doesn't blow away the quieter numbers ("Let Me
Come Home"). He is comparable to Bobby
Tench, but he needs
to be reminded that he's not Ian
Gillan (the falsetto
shrills on "I'll Tell You Why"). They even exorcise
the ghosts of guitarists past with a good Walsh-like rocker ("Looking
for My Lady"), and have some good clean fun with "Harry
Hypochondriac". As for Jim Fox's drumming - he does
stretch out a bit on the last track, but otherwise the cohesion of
the band's sound really prevents any serious moves.
The James Gang:
Passin' Thru (1972)
Joe
Walsh: The Smoker You Drink, The Player You Get (1973),
***1/2 If
one needed proof that Walsh was an excellent songwriter, this album
is it. The opening track, "Rocky
Mountain Way," is one of his best led by its
talkbox solo and usual Walsh guitar lines. The rest of The
Smoker is more subdued, as Walsh made open forays into pop.
He trief everything including psychedelia ("Bookends"),
Caribbean jams ("Happy Ways") and even Chicago-ish
pop (Vitale's flute on "Days Gone By"). The album's
weaker numbers ("Wolf", "Midnight Moodies") show
that even Walsh's filler is high quality. This album has quite
a different feel than his previous work, very keyboard heavy (not
surprising since three people are credited with them) and Walsh's
guitar is used sparingly on most tracks. Backing wise, nothing
special except that Passarelli's bass sounds really good.
Produced by Walsh and Szymczyk.
The James Gang: Bang
(1973)
The
James Gang: Miami (1974), ** One of the
most ominous beginnings to a record is when you hear the opening
chords and they sound exactly like another song. "Cruisin
Down The Highway" is the same as Traffic's "You Can All
Join In" (minus
the sax squiggles), which opens Traffic.
Having lost Walsh and now Troiano, the James Gang built a slick hard
rock machine around new kid Tommy Bolin. Roy Kenner's schtick
has gone downhill that on Miami he is simply a no-name vocalist who
is as forgettable as most of the songs on the record (and also
slick). In fact, other than being slick, this record is
boring. The first three songs have the exact same structure and
sound (mid-tempo rock). The next (fourth) differs slightly but
still has an apt title, "Sleepwalker". Not only does
this reflect the listener, it is as if Bolin was merely content to
vaguely imitate Walsh with crunching chords and slide guitar.
The only good song on this side sounds is a short instrumental that
sounds like the Motel 6 theme ("Miami Two-Step"). The
back side is better with Bolin playing light jazz twitterings, which
builds into a decent (but not good) rock song ("Praylude / Red
Skies"). The only song that has any sincerity is Bolin's
ballad "Spanish Lover", which has a nice acoustic base, and
Bolin on vocals. The rest, forget it. Not as bad as the
mechanical first three songs, but nothing to write home about.
If this is what regular rock was doing in the mid-70s no wonder metal
and prog ruled the day.
Joe Walsh: So What
(1975)
The James Gang:
Newborn (1975)
Joe
Walsh: You Can't Argue With a Sick Mind (1976) A
live album in which he runs through some hits from the James Gang and
his solo career. Noting really exciting here: his voice is
terribly whiny in concert and he doesn't do anything surprising.
The best song is "Help Me Through The Night", where is he
isn't trying to be slick. Otherwise the renditions of both
"Rocky Mountain Way" and "Turn to Stone" don't
really go anywhere. The songs that I know sound better in the
studio. I don't know what his backing band was at this point,
but there's a second guitarist and I bet Joe Vitale is there as
well. Avoid if you can help it.
The James Gang: Jesse Come Home
(1976) Forget
Jesse, how about Joe come home?
The
James Gang: Yer' Album (1969), ****
The
James Gang: Rides Again (1970), ***
The
James Gang: Thirds (1971), **1/2
The
James Gang Live In Concert (1971), ***1/2
The
James Gang: Straight Shooter (1972), ***1/2
Joe
Walsh: The Smoker You Drink, The Player You Get (1973),
***1/2 
The
James Gang: Miami (1974), **
Joe
Walsh: You Can't Argue With a Sick Mind (1976)